by Christine Robinson
Communications Senior Associate
Communications Senior Associate

For as long as I’ve been working with the trading cards, a Finalist has never listed food as their lucky charm, let alone a donut.
As a donut fan myself, I had to
know more. I hoped to meet Tommy Goodelle and his family during the Finals
weekend in Chicago. On the first day, I found myself in the FanZone with Tommy
and his dad, Andy. I introduced myself and began my line of questioning.
“What’s with the donut?” (His dad
told me it’s become a tradition so that Tommy isn’t shooting on an empty
stomach.)
“Do you eat one before the
contest?” “Yes.”
“Do you have a donut preference?”
“Dunkin Donuts.”
Tommy is hilarious. He humored me
as I asked every donut question that crossed my mind.
At the Hoop Shoot National Finals,
we interview Finalists and their families to get their stories. We then turn
these stories into Griteos. If you haven’t watched any yet, check them out.
The 2019 ones will debut later this year.
I decided to ask Andy if we could
interview him and Tommy. Andy said, “Of course”. Then sat down in front of the
camera while we asked about the Hoop Shoot National Finals, the Elks, and of
course, glazed donuts.
Like I said, Tommy is a funny kid.
He had a lot of one liners about donuts, but beyond that, what struck me the
most is how polite he is. After we were done with the interview, Tommy got up
and shook everyone’s hands and thanked them for interviewing him.

A few hours later, when I watched
Tommy compete in the 8-to-9-year old contest, I saw this politeness show up as
sportsmanship. After every single Finalist completed his round, Tommy stood up,
walked to meet him at his seat and gave them a high five.
When Tommy set out for Chicago,
he had one goal in mind: finish in the top three. And he did just that—shooting
23/25 and 5/5 in a shoot-off for third place. Tommy, a talented free-throw
shooter, didn’t need the luck of a glazed donut to finish in third, but it
certainly made for an entertaining weekend!
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